The Mars rovers should be credited as co-creators of Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea, the latest series by artists Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick. Some of the photographs Curiosity has taken of the Martian surface were included in these compositions, depicting a strange, silvery future of human life on Mars.

The artists told Wired's Raw File that they were approached by NASA's Media Relations department to create a series of artwork inspired by Mars. Combining elements of Chesley Bonestell's early space art, the landscapes of the Romantic painters, NASA's own prototype spacesuit designs, and Barbarella, the pair sought to create narrative images of a Mars in the aftermath of war. Footage from Curiosity Spirit and Opportunity was incorporated in some of the images, but many of the landscapes are, in fact, terrestrial.

In addition to photographs, Kahn and Selesnick also created sculptures and installations for the series, creating works that might exist on this future Mars, whether as natural or human-made structures. You can see more works from the series at the project's homepage and its Tumblr.